90% of all people who have ever lived are dead. It must have been something they ate. -- unknown

Friday, January 12, 2007

How Many Wars to Sustain a Presidency?

How many licks to the Tootsie-Roll(tm) center?

Talk has been rampant for some time hypothesizing that Bush's next goal is to excalate the Iraq quagmire by attacking Iran.

The recent attack of an Iranian embassy in Iraq certainly does nothing to qualm such rumors.

Until now, I saw the Iraq rumors as just that: wanton rumor-mongoring.

But with Bush's US approval numbers sagging faster than those in Iraq and the rest of the world, Bush is beginning to look desperate.

How hard would it be to incite Iran to make an attack? Say, launch a missile at one of our ships in the Gulf? Probably very little.

What would it take to turn such an incident -- Iran's launching a counter-punch -- into a Bay of Tonkin-esque call to war on Iran?

You have to admit, Bush's administration handles and profits from wartime hysteria better than any other administration in recent memory. Re-stirring the nationalistic rhetoric than has only recently begun to die down after Katrina would be easy to do for the Bush team.Bloodlust would quickly overcome most resistance to Bush and his presidency and neocon thugs would quickly finish off the rest.

What would become of an anti-draft movement if the neocons portrayed Iran as striking first?